Collateral hacking occurs when an entity trusted with critical data is compromised. It's becoming a huge threat as low-risk businesses pool their data and create an aggregation point that's an attractive target for attackers. Beyond targeted hacks, the consequence of having data duplicated by an external entity is disturbing. Consider the number of recent incidents involving data being accidentally exposed by people not necessarily trying to steal it (think bank backup tapes and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' hardware theft.)

At Computerworld.

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